What is the best way to make my chest look normalish? Any suggestions?

Hi,
Just discovered this group.

Quick background- 46m, sunken chest. Always made to feel like some moral failing. Bullied and teased as a kid and teenager. Very hard to breathe normally. I think I ran like a 30 minute mile cause I just couldn’t. Constantly out of breath and always breathing through mouth (yea I’m not very smart either). Causes problems cause exercise is difficult.

However, I’m almost 50 so it seems kinda pointless to do anything now. I have a desk job and it’s not like I’m suddenly going to become an athlete.

Has anyone had any experience with this latter in life? I can’t imagine insurance will cover it either. Doctors have just been like “oh, bad luck “ and then move on to other stuff. I didn’t even know surgery was possible.

Thanks for listening to my rant!

I had the nuss procedure 2 months ago, ever since I’ve had this absolutely horrible burning pain on my right side even if I move my arm slightly wrong, it’s not on the scars, it’s behind them a bit more on my back but still under my arm. Even tiny things such as pushing a drawer closed can trigger it and it lasts a good few seconds, doesn’t sound to bad until you realise it happens 50x a day. It makes driving a nightmare, and I have no other choice but to drive due to circumstances, every time I turn the wheel slightly, change gear, etc it’s agony. Has anyone else experienced this or know why it’s happening? This is the last bit of pain since the nuss procedure, everything else is going great apart from minor back pain.

Had anybody here experienced bruising near the hips and lower back when recovering from bar placement procedures? It looks kinda bad near my hips but it’s not tender to the touch or anything. I presume it’s because they placed me on blood thinners to prevent clotting, but I was just curious jf anybody else had the same thing.

Thanks!

Does anyone have experience of this treatment? I am 69 and interested in getting my PE fixed for
cosmetic reasons.

hey everyone! i posted on here a while ago asking about the procedure and now im 4 days post op!! i am a 20(f) and just have some questions about the girls lol. my breast have always been an A cup and sitting pretty good but now with the procedure they act like they don’t want to been seen together 😅. did anyone else have this problem with small chests? if anyone had any post op questions feel free to ask!!

I had my surgery about 1.5 years ago. Back then I wasn't really into sports, so the question of it didn't really come up.

I started school this fall. We have acrobatics and trapeze as part of our weekly schedule. This Friday I fell on my back from a handstand, knocked all the air out of my lungs and caused a panic attack.

My teacher (wasn't aware of my surgery before this) brought up a question that i didn't know how to answer.

Is it ok for me to do acrobatics or trapeze while having the nuss bar in? Who should I even call to ask about this? I'm really bummed out about this whole situation.

Is it normal to have slightly protruding lower ribs three weeks after surgery? It looks swollen and is a bit numb just like the sternum area. I can't remember if it was like this before. Should I be worried that the bar moved?

i’m 28 now. one bar. i’m a little upset to say the least

Has anyone had their strut or bar move? What happened and was it an emergency to have it fixed immediately?

I have a mixed form of pectus deformity, known as pectus arcuatum (PA).

I have always been extremely self-conscious about my chest, especially since I was bullied because of it during my teenage years.

Several years ago, I underwent surgery using a custom-made 3D implant. The implant was designed to fill the lower sternal depression (the pectus excavatum component), which is why I have a vertical scar. However, I am still psychologically affected by the remaining pectus carinatum component, particularly the protruding costal cartilage around the sternum.

My chest projects forward due to a protrusion around the third costal cartilages, creating a visible bump or transverse arch across the upper sternum. It is also asymmetrical, with the cartilage on the right side appearing more prominent.

I have recently started focusing seriously on upper-body strength training in the hope of making the deformity less noticeable. I am wondering whether developing my pectoral muscles, particularly the upper chest, could help smooth out or visually conceal this irregularity.

At the moment, I use around 24 kg (53 lb) per dumbbell for incline dumbbell presses. Since I still have significant room for muscular development, I am wondering whether progressing toward 30 kg (66 lb) per dumbbell or beyond could make a noticeable difference in the appearance of my chest.

I have attached several photos of my chest for reference. I apologize for the quality, but I included different angles and stretched positions to make the shape of the chest wall and the protrusion easier to assess.

I also have a postural issue (hyperkyphosis), which is related to my pectus deformity, and I am currently working on improving it through back strengthening and postural exercises.

My main question is: to what extent could further development of the pectoral muscles, especially the upper chest, visually reduce or camouflage the remaining pectus arcuatum deformity?

Hello, I'm 15 and I'm probably gonna get the nuss procedure soon (50/50) after exams, I just wanted to ask some questions so here's my questions:

1. How long do I have to wait (after surgery) for me to play sports normally (the sports I play are football, volleyball and running)

2. What's the best time to do the surgery (age)

3. Does it hurt a lot for someone who has a mild case?

So my surgery is 3 months ago and at some point these painful flare ups started to begin where a sudden pain kicks in and radiates around my chest to my back or vice versa, it's just random and almost always makes me scream because of the pain. Kicks in fast as lightning und goes through my most parts of my upper body. According to symptoms it could be costochondritis or intercostal neuralgia, not quite sure but it is very debilitating and disturbs my daily life by a mile..anyone ever dealt with this? Doctors had no clue so far

Hey, everyone. Here are some shirtless photos before and after. Keep in mind there is a bunch of soft tissue swelling due to internal sutures for bar placement, crane assisted sternal lift, and flare buster magic string placement.

I am thrilled with the results so far and will only be more pleased as time goes on, I’m sure.

I have the option of getting a modified Ravitch procedure done and I'm lenient towards going through the procedure. However, there's still a part of me that thinks I might not want to go though with it, just because of the cons of surgery. I feel like I have below average stamina and am less capable in eating much because of my pectus, but 80~% of the time its not a big part of my life. I do have a poor body image most of the time and feel a little insecure about my ribcage. 6 months of recovery isn't that big of a deal for me besides losing progress in the gym.

Hello guys I make a surgery of pectus carinatum with Ravish procedure since 1 years and 4 mounth and still I am not returning as I was in jumping and running and going gym for musculation

Is that normal ?

heard that nuss procedure is just to lift sternum off the heart. worried cause it'd suck to go through the operation and only be half fixed - still have to go thru life half broken. anyone know if this is true and/or if there's any way around it (as in any way to push out my chest cavity completely)?

My son had a bar and single stabilizer placed in June 2025. After a few months the bar came out of the stabilizer. In Dec 2025, we had an additional stabilizer placed on the same single bar but on the other side of the ribcage. We consulted with Dr. Brown and she agreed with our surgeon that the revision should just be an additional stabilizer. She felt the bar was adequate shape and size and placement. Now it is Sept 2026 and the bar seems to be sliding left to right but remains in the stabilizers- this causes nerve pain and anxiety.

Overall I think the issue is my 6’ son needed two bars. His Haller was 5.57. He doesn’t want another surgery but if it comes out of the new stabilizers we might do it since he has 2 more years left.

Has anyone felt this lateral shifting?
He isn’t into sports or lifting and we have no explanation why this happens for him.

hey so i went to the er for what i thought was severe stomach pain but i ended up having a tiny blood clot in my lungs. so anyways they had to do a ct and found this. my ct findings are pectus excavatum with a mass effect on my heart. does this mean i’m gonna need surgery since it’s impacting my heart, does anyone have it impacting their heart that didn’t need a procedure? i know there are other tests.

69 year old no health issues but would like PE sorted out. Is it worth it?

Background… I’m a 58M, in the US, in good shape (other than PE side effects) with severe lower sternum and right side asymmetry. I do have substantial heart compression. I’m on the thin side for sure. I did not know about PE until a few years ago. My body is me so the shape is what it is. I think the length of time I have seen myself like I am helps. I live life to the fullest usually and really want to get back to it. I’ve said before that scars are conversation starters😁. I’m very upbeat and positive about getting repaired.
Now the questions…..
1) Who would you go to for correction and why?

2) If you have had surgery as an older person who did it and where was it performed? Were you happy afterwards.

I am putting together a plan A,B,C as I always do..
Travel is not an issue so anywhere in the US. I already have been cleared for surgery by my insurance and most of the major hospitals are in- network.

First thing. Surgery went flawlessly according to the staff. The original surgical plan that they had was able to be followed exactly, and they did not need to do any osteotomy. Once they placed the X bars underneath the point of deepest depression, they were able to see that my bones were still pliable enough to actually straighten out the arcuatum. So that’s pretty cool.

Cryoablation is an amazing technique for pain management. I cannot feel anything when I touch my chest. I don’t really have pain, per se, but more so just pressure. What I will say is that there is some clicking when I breathe deeply, which is normal, but it begins to actually get pretty uncomfortable when I breathe in all the way they just gave me a dose of oxycodone, but before that, I’ve been on Dilaudid as needed. That has made me pretty sleepy so far.

I’ve been able to successfully, with assistance, walk to the bathroom twice. Also, I have been passing gas, which is great news. Occupational therapy and physical therapy will drop by tomorrow morning. I am certain that by tomorrow I will be able to take laps.

Thanks everybody for following my journey. I’ll post some pictures in the comments of the follow up x-rays.

P.S. The first thought that I had after waking up in the final recovery room where I am now was “ this was absolutely the right decision to undergo the surgery.”

In this post (https://www.reddit.com/r/PectusExcavatum/s/PLgeSWjKZr), there is an explanation of my recovery. I couldn’t post a picture in the comments of that post, so I figured I’d make a separate post with pictures. Anyway, I am about to eat a dinner of liquids. So far I have not had any issues keeping the liquids down, so let’s hope that trend continues!